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Regarding recent responses from remarkable people I don't really know...

I got retweeted by a legendary musician after going to an inspiring performance!

I just saw this show at the Robin Theatre in Lansing, and it was amazing! Do not miss a chance to hear Dom Flemons' rare Americana live! https://t.co/eY5e4kecHV
— Jean M Miernik (@JMMiernik) September 23, 2016

Can you even believe this? And it was so much more striking in person, like a Dali painting. No digital reproduction can do it justice, but you get the idea.

I'm getting some amazing exposure therapy at work for my phobia of creepy-crawly things! Our new church is large and beautiful with an aura of peace throughout--and occasional plagues of tiny beasts.

Just before the wedding of an entomologist, our walls and ceilings (and rooms, all over the floor) filled with itty bitty crickets. They were sorta cute and made a hypnotic sound through the hallways and empty rooms. After a few days, the crickets disappeared as suddenly as they had arrived.

We have our occasional hairy spiders and monstrous centipedes, which I still don't like, but somehow they startle me less in a big, calm space.

And we've been visited by other predators with more reverent attitudes, like this beauty of a praying mantis on (the outside of) a plastic-sheet-covered window. I like to think she's sanctifying the site of the under-construction Memorial Garden (where the ashes of our dead will be interred).

I am a happy mama! This week has been bittersweet perfection, like when you crave baking chocolate real hard and shove it in your face and it tastes like dirt but drenches your soul in serotonin.

Last weekend, some friends and I celebrated the short and bittersweet life of a friend whose favorite t-shirt said "I WOULD CUDDLE YOU SO HARD," and that pretty much sums it up.

It was like a magical reunion of sorts, because he had so many friends. Though I had only met him as an adult, he happened to have known a bunch of my childhood friends. One of my oldest buddies flew in from Arizona, met my daughter for the first time, and taught her how to fly a kite.

Definitely watch this one in full-screen to see the faraway cuteness.

And she's a constant reminder that life goes on. I enjoy being her mother more every year of her life. Sure, I have those moments when I realize she's lost her baby knuckle dimples, but any sadness I have now is wrapped in warm, cuddly joy and excite…

Most things about parenting have been harder than I expected, but I'm happy to say that dropping my child off at full-day kindergarten has not been one of them.

A few years ago, I had some very harsh things to say about traditional schools after having negative experiences myself (in Catholic and public schools), learning endless horror stories in graduate school and in the media, and spending a traumatizing year substitute teaching in behavior block and special education classrooms (yes, I chose that form of torture for myself to get a closer look at the biggest challenges in education when I still wanted to work in that field).

I swore I'd never send my own child to a traditional school! I started lurking on the edges of my local homeschooling networks and feeling inspired by all the fun and exciting things those families did together.

I also started learning about the shadow side of homeschooling (everything real casts a shadow, af…